Excerpt from Poets and Novelists: A Series of Literary Studies The following Studies - however defective in other re spects - possess some claim to exhaustiveness, and con sequently I have ventured to hope that with many persons they may have a permanent value. They have been revised, and in some cases extended, from the leading Reviews and Magazines. Notwithstanding, how ever, the favourable reception the Essays met with on their original appearance, I might not now have collected them, and endeavoured to give to them 'a local habitation and a name, ' but for the fact that I have been repeatedly pressed ton'do so by numerous individuals - whose tribute (in some cases, at least) I cannot but regard as flattering - who were desirous of possessing them in a volume. I can only trust that the public and the press will now en dorse their verdict. The subjects of the papers, however imperfectly treated, are amongst the most attractive which can be named for lovers of books. With regard to the. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.